


Childlike Innocence

by TempusNoKitsune



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Connor, Awkward Upgraded Connor | RK900, Big brother Connor, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 Friendship, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Crack Treated Seriously, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Fluff, Protective Connor, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Is Bad at Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-10-10 13:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17426747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempusNoKitsune/pseuds/TempusNoKitsune
Summary: Connor can tell that his voice was meant to be cold and not completely unlike his own, but he can’t help but soften at the childish and innocent tone. The RK900’s eyebrows furrow infinitesimally.





	1. Chapter 1

Connor blinks multiple times, LED spinning from a calm blue to a bright yellow, going back and forth a couple of times as he fights to fully comprehend the vision before him.  Jericho has been methodically sweeping through all of the old Cyberlife plants in Detroit in the months following the revolution. Though Connor has been working with Markus in negotiations, he’s generally avoided the large groups of other androids as they tend to...find him less than agreeable. That being said, when Simon sent him an urgent message telling him that he was needed in Cyberlife Tower as soon as possible, he knew that it was something important.

    Even as an advanced prototype he could have never have pre-constructed this particular situation. He was supposed to be the top of the line. The most advanced of any android ever made, and yet, before him was the evidence that he was not. Connor stood still for a few moments more before rolling his shoulders back and stepping up to the clear box in front of him. There’s a small panel just to the side of it. A security system long overridden to allow extended android access.

    Connor pressed his hand to the panel, his synthetic skin pulling back to reveal porcelain white. Instead of opening right away, as he was expecting, a bright screen flickers up across the front glass panel, the face staring back at him causing him to gasp and take a stumbling step backwards.

    “Hello, Connor. This is the new RK900. Faster, stronger, more resilient than the RK800, and equipped with the latest technologies.” Amanda says, her voice even and cold as it always was. It triggers his new fight or flight instincts, his LED going yellow immediately. “The state department has ordered over 200,000 units. This is the official prototype. You’ve become obsolete, and will be deactivated.”

    The video flickers for a moment before Amanda’s image warps out and a general blueprint of the RK900 model takes over the display. Connor’s thirium pump is still going a mile an hour, and he’s frozen to the spot as a fuzzy image of the android in the box displays as a ghost of it’s sleeping counterpart.

    Connor takes in a few deep breaths, letting his head dip down until his chin touches his chest, closing his eyes tightly. Slowly his pump begins to even out its rhythm, and he’s able to step back up and force the front glass panel open. It hisses unhappily and a crack runs down in an uneven diagonal.

    For a moment he expects the RK900 to wake up right away, but nothing happens at all, not even momentary blink of his LED. Connor furrows his brows and reaches out to gently bring the other android’s arm forward.

    “Wake up.” He whispers.

    After a minute something akin to panic bubbles up in his chest as nothing changes, but finally the RK900’s LED lights up, and silvery gray eyes blink open slowly.

    “Hello.” Connor says softly, letting his mouth tilt up at the corners in a smile. He steps back just enough to give the RK900 metaphorical space to breathe.

    The RK900 just stares at him, the only sign that he’s somewhat sentient being the LED on his temple and the slow blinking of his eyes.

    Connor tries again, “My name is Connor. I’m...I’m your predecessor...like,” He stumbles over his thoughts for a moment, “a human big brother.”

    RK900’s blinks come faster, and his LED swirls for a moment.

    “Do you have a name?” He tries.

    Again there’s nothing but the rapid blinking and LED movement to show that the other android has even heard him.

    “Why don’t you step out of that box and we’ll get you in some clothes of your own.” Nothing. “I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

    The RK900 just continues to blink at him, and Connor doesn’t need to see himself to know that his LED has turned yellow. He’s running out of things to try verbally, and so he takes a step forward again, looking straight into the other’s eyes as he opens a channel.

    _Is this better? Can you not speak? It’s okay, you’re safe with me._

When he doesn’t get anything back the underlying frustration of being unable to properly communicate with the RK900 turns into a rapidly mounting concern. He’s about to try again when he gets a string of code. Several strings.

_01001000b,01100101b,01101100b,01101100b,01101111b,00101110b,0001010b,01001000b,01100101b,01101100b,01101100b,01101111b,00111111b,0001010b,00101111b,00101111b,01001000b,01100101b,01101100b,01101100b,01101111b,00101111b,00101111b,00101111*_

    Connor’s lips part slightly, eyebrows furrowing together. The RK900’s mouth opens just a bit, and he notices that if the other android were to open his mouth any more he would have to get rid of that big, stiff collar. There’s a tense moment where the RK900 opens and closes his mouth multiple times before a sharp and garbled static noise emanates from him loudly and suddenly enough that Connor stumbles back in surprise. RK900 snaps his mouth shut, and Connor can only just pick up the hurt look passing over those gray eyes.

    Connor lifts his hands up in front of him, smiling and stepping forward.

    “No, no. I’m sorry you just surprised me. You can’t talk?”

    RK900’s mouth opens again. “Ahhhh...eeeeyyyyyy…..haaaaiiiiii.”

    Connor can tell that his voice was meant to be cold and not completely unlike his own, but he can’t help but soften at the childish and innocent tone. The RK900’s eyebrows furrow infinitesimally.

    “That’s a good start! You don’t have to push too hard, we’ll figure it out. But now we know that you can speak aloud. Don’t worry, okay?”

    He holds out his hand, “Come on.”

    RK900’s brows furrow slightly again, and his eyes scan up and down Connor’s form like he’s searching for something in particular.

    Connor blinks a couple of times, and then tilts his head. He moves so that his back is to the other android, and turns his head to the side so that his face is at least partially visable. He very slowly moves his right leg forward, and looks back with a smile.

    “Like that! Now you try.”

    The RK900’s mouth opens a bit, and his eyes move down to Connor’s foot for a moment before looking back up to his face. Connor gives him a little nod, and the other android lifts his foot. Connor turns back around as RK900’s leg comes up a little stiffly, and he shifts forward onto his foot. Connor makes a quick movement in to steady the other at his shoulders as the RK900 wobbles precariously.

    “Good, good!”

    RK900’s eyes take in his face again, pupils expanding and shrinking as he, no doubt, scans Connor’s face. Connor’s smile stretches even further as the RK900 struggles to imitate his facial expression, mouth twisting into a painful looking smile and eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

    He lets out a little laugh and loops his arm up under RK900’s shoulders.

    “I’ll help you. I’m going to take you home, okay? And we’ll figure things out from there.”

    The RK900 doesn’t say anything, but he does start to slowly stagger forward, most of his weight shifted over onto Connor.

 


	2. Chapter 2

RK900 blinks slowly as he comes to for the third time in his existence. His moment of disorientation is easily rectified by a quick scan. There’s the sound of ceramic hitting wood and as he looks towards the noise, the RK800 quickly comes into view.

“How are you feeling?”

He opens his mouth and then thinks better of it. There’s still an underlying sense of discomfort and disquiet that comes from within his core, his systems. It’s something that he wasn’t taught to recognize, cannot understand, and was never meant to feel. 

Not unlike a young child, RK900 reaches out towards Connor with an open hand, skin receding down just past his wrist. Connor smiles and closes the remaining distance, white chassis’s coming together in a bright interface. RK900 had not had to communicate verbally or nonverbally since their initial meeting, Connor taking reading into what he’s thinking as much as possible and going through trial and error from there.

_ 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 00100000 01100001 01110111 01100001 01101011 01100101 0001010 01110101 01101110 01110011 01110101 01110010 01100101 0001010 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100100 01101111 00111111 0001010 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00111111* _

Connor nods slowly, a gentle smile still on his face.

_ That’s okay. We can figure it out. Let’s start with baby steps! _

The RK800 moves so that he’s sitting down on the couch next to RK900, without separating their hands. 

_ We’re going to start with learning more movements and human decipherable language. _

_ 01101000 01110101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01110011 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001*  _

Connor lets out a breathy laugh, his hand squeezing down for a moment in a way that lights up something in RK900’s chest.

_ Fair point, but they can’t do it as quickly as we can. I’ve made a copy of a couple of my basic processors. They should make it so that you’ll have an easier time using English to communicate, and anything more intricate we’ll work through together. Then we’ll move on to movements! _

He shifts his head just enough for the action to be seen as something like a nod. His range of movement in regards to his head and neck are severely limited by several things. Factors which he’s only just begun to have the opportunity to catalogue. 

Connor removes his hand, severing the interface and the direct open channel. 

“Now, we know that you can make noises. Preliminary scans show that you have all of the right parts to allow for verbal communication. So, it’s all just a matter of utilizing those programmes I just shared with you.” Connor scoots back a bit towards the other arm of the sofa, opening up some space between them. “We’ll start with something simple. Try repeating after me.”

The RK800 takes a long pause, brown and gray locking in an unwavering stare down before the other android blinks and his facial expression lights up.

“Hello, my name is Connor.”

RK900 sits in silence for a moment longer. There’s an odd and indescribable sort of hesitance keeping him from trying, from  _ wanting _ to try. However, due to the fact that Connor is his predecessor, and therefore well versed in things like interrogation settings, his patience is long and cold. RK900 pulls himself from his thoughts, and opens his mouth.

“Haaaa...Heeehhh-loouuuhhh...Mmmm-ahh-” What could have been the rest of the simple word ‘my’, turns into a deafening electronic burst. A sound that comes as a response of an error and warning message, several different frequencies fluctuating and clashing. 

Connor squints his eyes a bit, and his LED swirls red a few times as the noise assaults him. There’s a loud thud from the other room, and then a multitude of several smaller ones that follow. A human and canine pop around the corner, both looking harried and far less than pleased. 

“What the hell was that?” The human yells.

A base instinct within his present and original programming has him scanning the individual as soon as possible. 

Anderson, Henry. Date of Birth: September 6, 1985 (age 54). Species: Human. Gender: Male. Height: 6.2 ft. Weight: 209 lbs. Lieutenant, DPD. 

This man is Connor’s partner.

Connor holds his hands out, making quick movements with them and jumping up to his feet.

“Who the  _ hell _ is that? It better not be like the other fucking one!”

“Hank! It’s okay.” Connor tries. He lifts and puts down his feet a couple of times, like he wants to move in some way, but can’t figure out how. “This is RK900. He was left behind in Cyberlife tower.”

Hank’s eyes narrow and he looks RK900 up and down. The android just blinks at him, not that there’s much more that he can, or feels compelled to do.

“So, why is he in our house?”

‘Our.’ That was interesting. He filed that away under his quickly growing database.

“Well, firstly, he’s got nowhere else to go.” Connor finishes this statement with a pointed look. “Secondly, he can’t talk or walk, so I want to help him.”

Hank’s stance quickly goes from something defensive, to a surprised and defeated slouch.

“He can’t do what now?”

RK900 tries to tilt his head, but lacks the ability to do anything more than lean his upper body slightly to the side. The movement makes something at his collar buzz and crack, but the noise goes largely unnoticed. 

“Well he obviously has the potential to do both but...I believe that he wasn’t finished before the revolution really took off...so they just left him as is.”

“Then shouldn’t you take him to Jericho or something?” Hank asks, walking closer to the sofa.

“I will!” Connor throws back, moving around so that he can still see Hank’s face as the man lets himself fall to the couch next to RK900. “I just…”

“Con, he’s not a puppy. He’s a living being. You can’t keep him like a pet.”

“I’m not! He’s just…” The RK800 makes a little noise, and lifts his shoulders up towards his ears. “He’s my little brother.”

Hank’s eyes move away from RK900 as his eyebrows shoot up.

“Your little brother?”

Connor’s cheeks turn a rosy pink, and he takes a stance that makes him look both like a statue and like he’s ready to fight at any moment. Before he has any chance to say something else Hanks shrugs his shoulders and looks back to RK900.

“Whatever you think and feel, as long as he’s okay with it, I don’t really give a fuck. That being said, he can stay here for now, but you’re gonna have to get him over to Jericho somehow, and I don’t know how you’re gonna do that if he can’t walk.”

Connor’s eyes light up and suddenly he’s on the couch as well, squished in between the two larger individuals, reaching out and grasping RK900’s hand as he leans over until his body is pressed against Hank’s.

RK900 files this observation with the others. Forming an impression of Hank and Connor’s relationship.

“Maybe we’ll try walking first this time though.” Connor amends.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Binary phrase 1 =   
> Feel awake  
> unsure  
> What to do?  
> What I am?
> 
> *Binary phrase 2 =   
> Humans can translate binary


	3. Chapter 3

“Ah! Um, just-just…” Connor’s eye twitches slightly as his LED circles yellow. “RK900. RK900!”

Hank snorts over from where he’s seated at the table in the kitchen. His fifth cup of coffee still steaming.

“You can’t just keep calling him that, y’know. You can’t even yell it properly.”

Connor throws a sharp look over his shoulder.

“I am  _ not _ yelling.”

“Sure sounds like yelling to me.” Hank barely holds back a laugh as a crash sounds off from the other room, making Connor’s LED flicker red once before shifting back to yellow. “Try something that’s one syllable.”

Connor lets out a short huff and turns his head back to the living room. He winces as he takes in the image of RK900 twisted oddly on the floor, Sumo lying alongside him as though to mimic his position. RK900’s LED quickly goes from yellow back to blue as the large dog licks a slobbery stripe up the side of his face.

Connor pads over, bare feet sticking slightly to hardwoods. 

“Are you okay?”

RK900’s eyes shift away from Sumo and up to him. His face remains impassive, but there’s a certain air that he gives off- or perhaps it’s just something that Connor can relate to -that reveals a certain sense of distress. RK900 blinks at him.

Connor reaches out and pulls away the random things that had fallen off of the coffee and side tables. A few hard copy books, a digital magazine, a couple of mugs with a mixture between dried coffee and traces of thirium. He reaches forward to get a hold under the other android's arms when his eyes catch a blue glow. Connor’s eyes widen as he moves to touch the affected area.

RK900 lets out a muffled static-y noise. “Staaa-hap.”

Connor’s hand freezes where it is, and he can see Hank leaning back in his chair out of the corner of his eye. That’s the most coherent word that RK900 had said so far.

“Stop? Why?”

“Mmmmm…” Gray eyes close tightly for a moment, and Connor sits back on his heels. “Nahhh...noooo….fin-finissshhh.”

Connor’s eyebrows furrow, pinching together as he tries to understand. 

“What do you mean not finished?” Connor can hear the chair in the kitchen creak, a sign that Hank is trying to get a better view of what might be wrong. 

RK900 doesn’t say or do anything more, just stares blankly at him.

Connor telegraphs his movements carefully as he lifts his hand again.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He keeps their eyes connected and gently lays his hand on the high black collar, unbuttoning the connector. “I promise nothing bad is going to happen.”

He thought that it would be an easy promise to keep. After all, how much more unfinished could Cyberlife have left him after not supplying him with the proper understanding and programming to walk and talk. Connor gets a newfound level of distaste for the old Cyberlife, though it’s pushed to the back behind the mixture of concern and a thinly veiled combonation of horror and surprise. 

RK900’s head goes from being perfectly cradled within his stiff collar piece, to rolling from its place between his shoulders, to his forehead touching the floor. The wires and tubing that connect his head to the rest of his body are completely exposed, the glow that he had spotted earlier becoming brighter, and a small sheen of thirium making it reflect off of the tubing.

“Holy fuck!” There’s a loud thud that follows Hank’s shout, and Connor is snapped out of his staring by the sound of Hank cursing out the chair as he gets to his feet.

Connor quickly shifts around and gently lifts RK900’s head on top of his lap.

“Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

RK900’s LED goes from the red it hit when it had touched the ground, to a softly glowing yellow.

“No.” 

Connor, despite the levity of the situation, still finds his mouth turning upwards with the clear word. RK900’s eyes flicker up to his face, and his mouth twitches just a bit.

“Okay…well this is certainly a new reason to visit Jericho as soon as possible.”

“You arranged an appointment or whatever with them, right?” Hank huffs out as he comes to a stand still at Connors shoulder.

Connor gently pets hair away from RK900’s eyes.

“We don’t have to make an appointment, but yes, I told them that we were going to come in tomorrow on my break.”

“What, so we’re leaving him here alone?”

Connor continues petting the other android’s hair, gently rubbing his finger over the yellow LED, a warm feeling flowing throughout his body as the LED flickers blue a few times. 

“I think we should bring him to work.”

Hank sits back onto the couch heavily enough that it lets out a squeaking noise. Sumo, upon seeing his owner come to the perfect petting position, lifts himself up from where RK900’s body is still awkwardly sprawled out, and trots over to lay his head on Hank’s thighs.

“You really think that’s a good idea, Con?”

“Yes! It will be good for him to get some data on social interactions.” He looks over at Hank with a smile that not only shows his teeth, but also has a look of mischief about it. “Besides, he’s also equipped with most of the same technologies that I utilize to work on cases...and Detective Reed doesn’t have a partner.”

Hank’s face goes from disbelieving and unsure to darkly excited in mere seconds.

“You clever little son of a bitch.”

“I learned from the best.”


	4. Chapter 4

Getting from the car to the inside of the Precinct is a bit of a struggle, as RK900 is still not quite at a walking stage yet. With Hank’s help everything goes smoother than it had when Connor had taken him out of Cyberlife tower. They’ve gotten to the office earlier than usual, purposefully of course, as it gives them the chance to settle in without making any kind of scene.

Connor easily drags up another chair to the side of his desk, and they gently deposit RK900 there. The younger android blinks at them, and Hank lets out a fond sort of snort when he attempts to tilt up the corners of his mouth in a mimicry of the small smiles that he had received from the two of them. Connor beams back at RK900 before taking his own place behind the monitor.

“Looks like Fowler’s already here.” Hank comments as the glass door from the office behind them swings open.

“What the hell is that?”

Hank snorts before he can stop himself and Connor just looks over with a big smile.

“Captain, this is RK900! He is the newest RK model.”

“And what the fuck is he doing in my precinct.”

Connor hops up to his feet and walks over behind the where the other RK model is seated as though presenting him, and gets this glint in his eyes. Something that tells Hank, who knows him better than anyone else, that he’s about to circumvent rules and discomfort to get what he wants.

“Well, as you know I was built to be used for police work. Most specifically interrogation and hunting. The RK900 is the next model in the same line, and therefore also a police model!” Connor rocks back and forth on his heels a few times. “We don’t have that many androids working here at the station, and it would look good to have a few more. There’s no better option than to take on an android made exactly for that, don’t you think?”

Fowler just stands there for a minute, looking at Connor in a way that said that he knew exactly what the android was trying to do here, but couldn’t come up with anything to say against it.

Connor rocked forward once again, leaning to place a hand on RK900’s shoulder. The other android blinks a couple of times and looks over at the captain. Somehow, those steely grey eyes are able to take on the slightly wide, shiny, sheen that makes him look something like a clunky, oversized, puppy. Fowler shifts on his feet.

“And Gavin hasn’t been able to hold a partner, so he’s solo at the moment. You certainly know how much he’s been complaining about being on desk duty, and he’s been a bad HR issue. Wouldn’t it look good to have him paired up with an android  _ and _ get him out of the precinct?”

The Captain still looks like he wants to put up a fight. However, when Connor leans more over RK900 and the two androids turn their unwavering stares on the man, a mixture of semi-sound logic and discomfort when faced with such an uncomfortable discussion, makes it clear that the decision has been made for him.

“Fine, he can stay. He’s still going to have to pass the same tests as everyone else, and you keep an eye on him and Reed and make sure no one dies.” With that Fowler turns and walks back up to his office, and Connor can’t really feel bad about the defeated slump of his shoulders. 

The RK800 grins widely as he pushes RK900 forward just a bit before leaning down to give his neck a gentle hug and to fix his shirt collar where blue light peeks out just a bit at the top.

“Con, I can’t believe you just fucking did that.” Hank says with a little shake of his head.

Connor all but skips to his own seat, obviously pleased with himself. 

“Yes you can. I specialize in interrogation.”

Hank snorts before he seems to loose all amusement suddenly.

“Wait...Did we just get put on Reed babysitting duty?”

RK900 looks back and forth between the two of them, eyes edging creepily towards the very most corners of his eyes to avoid any need for the neck movements that he can’t yet make. 

“Reed?” He asks in a small tinny voice.

If Connor hadn’t already been smiling, that would have made him light right up. Not the name, of course. Who in the world would light up when someone talked about Reed? No, the fact that the young android that he was taking on as a little brother was getting out recognizable words in such a short period of time left him feeling sort of...floaty.

“Gavin Reed is a detective that works here at the precinct. He doesn’t have a partner to work with right now, and he’s not the nicest man, but you don’t need to worry about it. If he does anything to hurt or make fun of you, you let either Hank or me know, okay?”

RK900 makes a small humming sound.

Connor leans forward and boots up his terminal. “Put your hand up on the table and I’ll connect with you to give you basic permissions.”

He just nods encouragingly as the younger android slowly lifts his arm up and drops it on the table, and then looks up to Connor as though for reassurance that he had done it correctly. Connor’s thirium pump feels warm.

“Very good! Soon we’ll get you moving with no trouble at all!” He cheers as he gently lays his hand over 900’s. 

Their synth-skin peels away as he begins the interface and performs a soft connect between some of the DPD files and RK900’s latent detective programming. A couple of locks and loading bars come up. He decides that they can take their time as a few of the other officers slowly trickle into the office, running only on their morning cups of coffee. Besides, running through the Cyberlife blocks within and on different parts of the other android’s programming may open up some things for their meeting this afternoon at Jericho.

**Author's Note:**

> *This binary reads: Hello. Hello? //Hello///


End file.
